California Chrome’s owner apologizes for post-race rant

The co-owner of racing horse California Chrome apologized on Monday morning for his post-race comments after his horse lost the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

During an interview on Good Morning America, Steve Coburn gave an emotional apology for the remarks he made.

"[I'm] very ashamed of myself," he said. "I need to apologize to a lot of people, including my wife Carolyn. First of all, I need to apologize to the winners, they ran a beautiful race ... I did not mean to take anything away from them."

ESPN noted that California Chrome placed fourth in Sunday’s race and lost his bid for the triple-crown after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The last time a horse won all three was in 1978.

Immediately after the race, Coburn was interviewed and appeared to many as a sore loser as he never congratulated the winner, Tonalist and called the horses that did not run the first two races “cheaters” who took the "coward's way out."

Coburn’s comments did spark quite the debate on Twitter, as many people had thought that the horses running in the Belmont had run in the previous two events and questioned a rule change. Those in racing circles, however, distanced themselves from what Coburn had said and defended the rules or refused to comment at all.

Whether or not Coburn had a point about what he said he went about it the wrong way and his apology was imminent.